


V. Wayward Sisters

by ShadowCas



Series: Where Do We Go From Here? (SPN Hiatus Creations 2019) [5]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Betaed, F/F, F/M, Gen, Jessica Moore (mentioned) - Freeform, Kaia Nieves (mentioned) - Freeform, Long coda, Rowena MacLeod (mentioned) - Freeform, SPN Hiatus Creations 2019, Wayward Sisters, Week 5, coda series, implied Sam/Rowena
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-05-30 18:05:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19408552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowCas/pseuds/ShadowCas
Summary: The arrival of the Wayward gang is a breath of fresh air. Claire and Sam realize that they have more in common that they thought, and Sam does his best to guide and comfort the younger hunter.





	V. Wayward Sisters

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to sweetness47 for beta-ing!

There’s a certain giddy excitement bubbling up in the Bunker that Sam can’t deny the presence of. He supposes it makes sense — save for Billie’s surprise appearance and a brief reunion with Jack, it’s been a stifling, lonely two months in the Bunker. It’s still bad enough in the outside world, even for three experienced hunters, that it’s not worth the risk to leave for anything other than the strict essentials. They’ll have to go out eventually, of course, once food runs out, but they’re hoping that things will begin to settle down a bit by the time their plentiful supply of canned goods is spent. 

This also means that social interaction has been extremely limited since the Apocalypse began, and as much as the three Winchesters get along, two months of talking to no one but each other has worn them down a bit. Sam wouldn’t trade his current company for anything; he loves his brother and the former angel who’s become part of their family, but he does miss the outside world. This is why he’s absolutely thrilled that Jody and her gang will be here by the day’s end. He figures it doesn’t hurt to break up some of the raging testosterone as well. 

It’s been a while since they spoke to the all-female family (the Wayward Sisters, as Claire has apparently taken to calling them). Even before the Apocalypse, the purely social meetings had been put on hold for the Jack crisis in favor of strictly business. 

But luckily, Jody and Donna are the kinds of friends who fall back into easy rapport with them, even after a long absence, and the younger girls have kind of taken after the two women that they look up to in this regard as well.

“Shouldn’t they be here by now?” Dean grumbles, always the worrier.

“Jody said around sunset. Let’s give them a couple of hours before we start to get concerned,” Sam reminds him gently. 

“Alright,” Dean dismisses. “But—”

He’s cut off by a car’s horn giving two cheerful beeps.

“That must be them,” Sam exclaims. He can’t help but throw a smug look towards Dean. “Told ya so.”

“Hey, I said they should be here, and I was right!”

Sam pushes himself up out of his chair with an amused shake of the head, and he follows Dean towards the door. Cas beats them both to it, pulling it open with a small smile barely a second after someone knocks.

Jody and Donna are at the front of the pack, giving them bright smiles despite the serious bags under their eyes.

“Hello, Jody. Donna,” Cas greets, and the two women pull him into a hug. He steps aside a second later, allowing them to greet Sam and Dean.

“Heya, Sam,” says Donna, wrapping him in a big hug.

Behind him, he can hear Dean saying, “Hey, Jodes.”

They have their hugs with each of the women before the remaining three file in.

“Hey, Patience,” Dean says with a mischievous glint in his eye, “guess what?”

“What?” She asks drily.

“I’m a psychic now, too.”

She squints her eyes at him.

“I said you should all be here any minute now, and here you are.” He wears a far too proud grin.

“Yeah, yeah, old man. I’ll believe it when I see it,” Claire pipes up.

“If it isn’t our favorite troublemaker,” Dean quips back. He reaches out to ruffle her hair, but before he can even blink, Claire has his hand pinned behind his back.

“Don’t,” she warns.

“Ow?”

“Claire,” Jody scolds with a dangerous quirk of her brow. Claire rolls her eyes and lets go of Dean’s arm.

“It’s alright,” Dean laughs. “Jeez, kid, you sure toughened up.”

“Well, I had to,” she says, brushing past him. “Especially since you losers broke the world again.”

“Guilty as charged,” Sam admits as he gives her a quick hug. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, well… it keeps things interesting.” She smiles at him and then goes to greet Cas.

Sam looks over to the last person in the doorway. “Hey,” he says to Alex, “didn’t expect to see you here. I thought you were kind of out.”

“Well, my job doesn’t really exist right now,” she says. “And the stakes are pretty high. Thought you could use an extra set of hands, if nothing else.”

“Of course, Alex,” Cas chimes in. “It’ll be very useful to have a medic around, too.”

“And we wanted to stay all together,” Jody says, wrapping an arm around Alex. “No splitting up during the Apocalypse. That means you too, Claire,” she says as she levels the blond girl with a look. Claire grins and waves sarcastically.

“Good plan,” says Cas.

“So, why don’t we all go sit down?” Sam invites, making room for everyone to enter. The group heads down to sit at one of the big tables below.

“So what are we looking at so far?” Donna asks.

“You said we need to get a team together. Of hunters,” Jody confirms. Sam nods his head. “How’s that going?”

He pulls a face, doing the math in his head. It’s not too impressive. “Including you guys… only ten or so. Tops. And most won’t be here until we’re closer to go-time.”

“And when exactly is that?” Claire sighs.

“Well… uh…”

“We don’t know,” Dean says, saving Sam. “Not exactly. But there are a few people trapped on the coasts right now, who are going to need some time to get here.” Sam thinks of Rowena, and once again, desperately hopes that she’s okay. “Once they’re closer, the rest will follow, and Billie will hopefully be ready to put the plan into action.”

“And you don’t know what the plan is?” Patience asks.

“No,” Cas says gently. “Do you?”

She shakes her head. “My visions have all been strange and foggy lately. Like really bizarre dreams. Nothing’s making sense. I’m sorry. I don’t know why—”

“It’s not your fault,” Sam is quick to assure her. “Billie — Death — is involved, along with… who knows how many other powerful entities. They’re reshaping fate itself. Of course you’re not gonna have clear visions.”

“And you just trust Death?” Claire challenges. “She hasn’t even told you her dumb plan.”

“Yes. Well, no,” Dean says. “Look, it’s a complicated relationship. But Billie’s pretty hands off. If she’s willing to get involved like this, she’s definitely not gonna leave us hanging high and dry.”

“Alright,” Jody says, seemingly accepting this explanation. “Well, while you three have been getting into trouble, we’ve been building up a decent network. We can help with the numbers; don’t worry about that.”

“Thank you,” Sam says. “Really.”

“My pleasure. Donna, help me make some calls?”

“Hold up!” Dean says. “Look, can’t this stuff wait for a day?”

“It’s the Apocalypse,” Alex reminds him. “So, not really.”

“Hey, you all just got in. And we have been cooped up in this Bunker by ourselves for way too long. I can’t imagine it’s been all that better for you.”

“No, aside from Claire, we’ve all been a bit cooped up, too,” Donna admits.

“Hey! I’ve been cooped up, even if it wasn’t as long.” She adjusts her leather jacket with a huff.

“So let’s stop working for just one night,” Dean pleads. “We’ll get back to planning tomorrow. I promise it can wait a few hours. For now, I just want to play some tunes, drink some beer, and hang out with my girls. Can we do that?”

Claire considers him. “Do I get a beer?”

“It’s the end of the world. Who’s stopping you?”

Sam has to admit that Dean’s plan for the night is much needed. Tension melts off of him that he hasn’t even realized was there, as he has a night full of fun, refreshing conversation with his friends. Dean had made the best dinner that he could with their limited supplies, and they’d cracked open more than a few bottles of beer. For a while, the grown ups had danced to some of Dean’s music while Claire just rolled her eyes at them, but Dean had eventually extended the aux cord to her in a rare gesture, which eventually got the kids on their feet and fully involved in the fun.

After that, Cas had dug out an old deck of playing cards that had been in his room since before he’d inhabited it. They’d decided to play poker, using bottle caps as currency. Despite the nonexistent stakes of the game, it had been very competitive, eventually escalating in Patience, of all people, tearing Alex’s hand away from her and tossing it to the ground after she drunkenly tried to cheat. This had resulted in a wrestling match that sent the rest of the cards to the floor, thus ending the game. 

Alex went to bed soon after, sleepy from beer and not quite used to a hunter’s sleep schedule. Patience followed soon after, leaving Sam, Dean, Cas, Claire, Jody, and Donna behind. 

Sam eventually notices, though, that Claire, although awake, has kind of separated herself from the group. He leaves the rest of them to make his way over to her, sitting quietly at the table where she’s nursing her beer.

“Hey,” he says. “You good?”

“Yeah,” she shrugs, indicating the exact opposite.

Oh boy.

“Okay, yeah,” he says. “Theoretically though, if you weren’t, would you like to talk about it?”

Claire shoots him a look, but she quickly deflates. “It’s really nothing, Sam, just the same old bullshit.”

“Try me.”

She shakes her head. “I mean, I know it’s stupid, since it’s like, the end of the world, but sometimes when the Wayward Sisters are all together I just think… how much better it would be if Kaia was with us.”

“Ah.” He knows this is a touchy subject, so he tries to be careful. “It’s been rough for you, I know.”

“You do?” she asks in surprise, with perhaps a touch of nervousness as well. Her eyes narrow. “How much?”

Sam has gathered through conversations with Jody that Claire and Kaia had been falling for each other in the short time they knew each other. However, Claire hasn’t broached the subject with him, and until this point, he hasn’t asked. “I know that you felt responsible,” he says, treading as lightly as possible. “I know that you were hurt. That the two of you were becoming friends. And… that there was maybe potential for more there.”

She scrunches up her shoulders and angles herself away protectively. “Yeah, that pretty much hits the nail on the head.”

“Claire, I… I know you’ve probably had a lot of people telling you they know how it feels to be in your shoes when they really don’t. I just want to tell you, I know how you feel. For real.” Her eyebrows raise. “I wasn’t that much older than you when I lost someone.” His mouth twitches, almost trying to hold back the words. “My first love.”

Claire looks at him with wide eyes. “Sam… I had no idea.”

“She was smart, and beautiful, and sweet, and… not involved in this life at all. She wasn’t even a hunter.”

“How did you…?”

“We met through college. I had tried to get out of the life — I’d been out for a couple of years, actually, and her and I just clicked. Really quick, almost like you and Kaia. It didn’t take long to fall in love.”

Claire looks down, both thoughtful and emotional. “And did you feel like it was your fault?”

“Yeah. For a very long time.” He takes a deep breath, dormant feelings of long ago events bubbling up in him. “I’m still not entirely sure it wasn’t. A demon killed her. A demon who was trying to get to me.”

Claire is silent for a moment. “Did you ever get over her?”

He pauses, thinking. “I don’t think you can really ‘get over’ anyone fully, especially when it’s as traumatic of a death like that. But, I’ve come to terms with the fact that that’s not my life anymore. I’m not that person anymore, and she and I wouldn’t be a good fit. I’m more at peace with myself over how she died; I know that there were a lot of different forces at play, and it wasn’t necessarily my choices that led us to where we were.

“You don’t really get over it, but time will change the way you look at it. I’ve been with other women since then, some who I’ve loved maybe just as much as Jess, and hopefully, at some point, there’ll be someone who I want to be with forever.” As he pictures the faces of those he’s had feelings for — Jess, Madison, Sarah, Amelia, Eileen — the image of Rowena suddenly appears in his mind. He quickly brushes it aside, trying not to dwell on it too much.

Claire takes a long drink of beer, and Sam can see the wheels turning as she considers what he’s said. “It’s not your fault, Sam.”

He’s taken aback. “Thanks, Claire. I think… I think I know that now.” He nudges her with his arm in a way he hopes is comforting without being sappy. “What happened to Kaia isn’t your fault either.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she says. She shakes her head and holds up her bottle to his. “Cheers to… time changing us, or whatever.”

He clinks his bottle against hers, feeling just a bit of hope blossoming in his chest. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”


End file.
